What Is Your Favorite Animal Tale?

InLife on the Homestead, an excerpt from Jenna Woginrich’s book, Made from Scratch, Jenna recounts sitting on a friend’s porch watching the “farm channel.” Her friend comes out of the house to look and says, “I’ve seen that episode.” A TV on the porch? Nope, just the daily antics of the farm residents — chickens, goats, pigs, horses …

If you have animals, you know how funny, endearing and frustrating they can be on occasion — great fodder for sitting-on-the-porch storytelling opportunities.

For instance, in a previous life I owned a pot-bellied pig that would get lonesome and walk about an eighth of a mile into the field to hang out with the horses. She could have come up to the porch and hung with the dogs, but she seemed to prefer horses. This was fine, except she never was aware when it was getting to be dusk. There she would be, stuck in the field. Alone. In the dark, snuffling and complaining. I would walk into the field calling her name, shine a flash light in front of her and we would walk, very slowly, with her following the little pool of light all the way back to her cozy pen.

Whether you have city dogs, cats or birds, or a farm full of livestock, you have some great stories to tell. Please share your favorite in the comments section below.

I decided to get a heifer, we had steers up til now. So I finally found one in my price range but we had to go to Iowa to pick her up, we live in central wi. well we don't have a truck I use my 95 dodge van as my farm truck! The owner said she was only about 300 lbs! well when we got there here was this 600lb heifer! Well we finally got her into the van,We took out the middle seat. So Daisy was in the middle of the van if you could have seen the double takes we were getting on the way home it was so funny, but what really took the cake is when she backed up and sat her self down on the back seat and watched the world go by thru the window. It was a great road trip!That was until about 50 miles from home when she dropped a load but now its so funny remembering.

Texas girl

7/22/2010 11:24:53 AM

We had a Nigerian Pygmy goat that was very social so he liked to hang out with us. One night when we were hanging out on the back patio my husband had finished smoking a cigar and he threw it on the ground. Harley, the pet goat, came over and picked it up. Before we could stop him he had that thing chewed and in his tummy. 5 minutes later he couldn't stand or walk straight, he was "high" from the tobacco. Scared us at first until we realized what was going on, then it was just funny. He acted just like a drunk, still trying to act and walk straight all the while stammering and staggering around. From then on we called my husband's cigars "billy goat dope".

Donna_64

7/21/2010 7:18:49 PM

First of all , loved reading all the stories. I just love critters, and have several kinds in my life (ferret rescue) rats,rabbit (found on the way home from grocery store)...now who on earth as my husband said, goes to the grocery store and comes home with a rabbit? dog (s)and cats. My cats are gone now, (old age) but i miss them every day, my ferrets also 1 by 1 have passed away, rats , a plenty...we now only have the rabbit and our dog. Missy our rat was caught by one of our ferrets 1 x and well she learned, as we could leave the top of her cage open and she never ventured beyond it ever again, one evening not using my head i left a roll of paper towels next to her home, and when i woke in the morning, i was looking at her tank and thinking what is wrong with this picture, well after some pondering i realized that she had worked ALL night, pulling every bit of paper towel off the roll and stuffing it into her home! I couldn't see her for the whole roll!
My ferrets...oh, how entertaining they can be! Odin loved pizza, being a free roamer, his spot was beneath our bed, but when we ordered pizza, as the smell wafted down the hall, and up his nose, he would come out, climb up onto the dining chair, and put his front paws on the table waiting for us to give him his bit of crust, which he would spirit down the hall to his hidey spot to gnosh on at his own leisure! I have loads of ferrety stories, and cats, and rats...
I miss them all very much, my furry children!

Rainseeker

7/21/2010 2:26:34 PM

Another Donald the Donkey story. Donald lived in our backyard. He had about an three quarters of an acre with a pen, water trough, shelter, the boy’s toys and more. Of course we would let him out to graze in other areas, take him for walks and he would sometimes help us with work such as stretching fence. Most of the time we would work and he would just follow us around munching on anything green.
In the backyard there are two swing sets, sheds and various features as well as the back steps leading into the a closed back porch and the house. How that full size donkey ever made it those parallel to the house steps, around the corner of the porch and into the house, I do not know. We bought material and built nice heavy solar screens for the boy’s bedroom. The windows faced the back yard and since we do not use air conditioning the screens were great after no screens at all. Donald apparently did not think so and managed to tear the screens off, pulling screws out and bending them up. Now that big ol’ donkey could stick his head into his boy’s room.
My wife had one of those you put together metal storage sheds filled with cages, Christmas decorations, baby items and general garage type stuff. She also had some feed and hay for the rabbits. Donald could not resist. First came the sliding doors. Not a problem for a donkey with a big head and hoofs. Once inside, he did not just stop with the feed and hay, he decided he wanted the shed for himself. The donkey proceeded to pick up with his teeth or kick out everything from his new home. Christmas pretties… out the door; small cages… out the door; stored items one by all out the door. Well, the donkey was happy. Wife still has not gotten over it.

Rainseeker

7/21/2010 2:08:24 PM

We got Donald the Donkey when he was about 15 or so years old. He was a full male and was really the best donkey in the world. He would let the smaller kids ride him and lived in our back yard. Donald would like to get out anytime the kids left the gate open. He had a regular trail (you could follow his prints) across the road to the grassy field, down the dirt road to the horse farm, with a much on weeds along the way, and then to see his friend Patches the neighbor’s pet bull. One day, while bringing Donald back, my teen son Ryan rode him as I walked along side. Donald had enough and did not want the weight of the large boy on his back and began to buck. Ryan fell off. I have never seen an animal stop so quick and show so much concern for the safety of his boy. Donald seemingly froze his bucking in mid air and you could see his eye stretched to look down to make sure he was not stepping on Ryan. That full size male donkey would not move until he was sure Ryan was up and ok. Donald passed away last summer at about 20 years of age.

Elizabeth_27

8/18/2009 8:20:52 PM

We had pet rats. Yes, I said rats.
Rats are prone to paralysis in the hind quarters, and so when one of our two rats at the time started having this problem we weren't all that surprised. We suspected that we may have to put her down so she wouldn't suffer. What happened instead was AMAZING! Her cage mate (another female) started looking after her. She groomed her, and brought food to her, looked after all her needs. After seeing how well cared for and comfortable she was we didn't have the heart to have her euthanized. The healthy rat looked after the paralyzed one for the rest of the disabled ones life.
I never would have believed such a thing possible if it hadn't happened right before our eyes.

Karen Grosheim

8/7/2009 2:49:15 PM

I had a horse named Toughy. Toughy could answer yes and no questions. I had been away for a couple of days. When I saw Toughy on the hill across from the house I yelled "I'm home, Toughy". Toughy started running toward me. His head was bobbing up and down as he was running, but when I yelled "Are you running because you missed me?" his head started going back and forth as in "no". He was hillarious as his head was bobbing up and down and back and forth at the same time until he got to the fence I was standing. He really was glad to see me.

Fuzvulf

8/5/2009 2:57:21 AM

When we lived in our old house, we rescued feral cats. Catch them, tame them a little, shots etc... and find them a good home. The last one was right before I lost my job. Her mother was killed by a car and she wasn't quite weaned. Well, with funds reduced to next to nothing that last one ended up not being "fixed". When an unweened kitten bites through handler gloves you know you've got a tough one. It took 4 months of patient love and attention to get her to the toleration stage. During that time we had to keep her in the laundry room. If we let her out she would climb furniture, curtains, doors, and people if she thought it would give her a chance to get out. My daughters would talk to her, once she started calming down we would let her out until she started shredding things and climbing others. My daughters would ask her "want out?" followed by "are you gonna be a good girl?".
To our surprise, one night we thought we heard a child saying something in the back of the house. Going to the kitchen we heard, "waahh owwww", "uh urrwwwuh". Over the years this cat has picked up a few other fairly recognizable "words". Her vocabulary consists of; ehwoe(hello), ehmoe(closests she can come to nemo the name of one of her kittens), and a kind of "ew" noise she makes while putting her paw on her food bowl for the word food. She is old now and still not the tamest cat. I keep thinking that I'm glad we live now and not in earlier times. Just a couple hundred years ago and we'd have been burned at the stake for being witches.

John_154

7/31/2009 10:16:52 AM

Horse Tale, cont'd.
I have told this story to many people and they said numerous things about the strange behaviour. Things like, he sees you as the leader of the herd and he was just doing what comes natural to him, but the best reply I ever got to the story was from my farrier. He said he had never heard a story quite like that before, but it didn't surprise him. I was in his pasture, since if feed and groom them, he thinks of me as the leader of the herd. He continued saying that those horses, Sassafras included, knew their pasture and knew those hornets were there. When I got in trouble and ran, just like they would have done, he came to help me "swish" them off with his tail.
To this day I have a very very special bond with that old Arabian gelding. I often times slip him a little something special in his feed, like an apple or a carrot, just as a continuing thank you for saving my life.

John_154

7/31/2009 10:15:07 AM

A Horse Tale (TAIL)
Several years ago I was clipping a horse pasture and ran over a small bush causing a puff of dust to rise behind my small tractor as I went by. I continued to cut in my line and made my loop around and when I returned to the spot where the bush had been. To my surprise the dust was still floating over where the bush once was. As I got closer and my eyes focused through my bifocals, I realize the dust wasn't dust at all. It was HORNETS!
It was too late. I couldn't stop. I swirved to go around them, but they found me. They began to sting me all over the upper half of my body. I abruptly stopped the tractor and jumped off running away from them and away from the center of the pasture, the whole time swatting the stinging hornets from by back neck and head with my cap which I had pulled off to use as a weapon against the airforce of insects. By this time, I had gained the attention of my Arabian gelding who had been standing in the cool shade of our small barn's breezeway. He immediately started running toward me.
By this time I had been stung 15 or more times. When I saw him I thought oh no, if I don't die from the hornet stings, I have startled the high-strung horse and he is coming out to kick me to death...which at that time may have been a blessing. He approached me at a full run, and whe getting to me, he turned his tail end around and the thought passed through my mind...here goes. I braced myself for a kick, all the time swatting madly at the hornets.
The old horse, Sassafras is his name, began to swat me with his tail. He swated back and forth until he thought all of the danger was gone. He then turned to face me and because something was still stinging me in the middle of my back, I continued to swat...to no avail...at the middle of my back. He leaned his head over and bit the last remaining hornet from my back.
Once he did this, he began to graze nonchalantly next to me.
I have told th

Joshua Jones

7/24/2009 7:00:31 PM

My neighbor had a cat named Kitty Cat. I remember sitting on the porch several years back with my grandmother watching this cat catch animals. One day, Kitty Cat went across the street and decided to stalk a group of birds. The next thing I knew, this cat darted back across the street with a bunch of dive-bombers in a line, chasing after her. She did flips and somersaults when the birds hit her and then she disappeared into the bushes behind the house. Everything was quiet until the laughter. I never saw that cat go over there again.

Larry M. Jones_1

7/24/2009 6:39:26 PM

We have two standard Poodles (Mr. Darcy and Ms. Sophie) and a rescue chicken (Ms. Annabelle - most likely Rhody). We live on a hill and the neighbors behind have dogs. Our dogs and there dogs like to "communicate" which we have been working hard to limit. The other day the dogs and the chicken were standing on the retaining wall at the top of the hill staring at the dogs below who were "commnicating." Our dogs remained silent while Ms. Annabelle did her best to "communicate" with the dogs below. She also recently started making a moaning kind of sound when she doesn't get to come in the house.

Faith_6

7/24/2009 4:27:49 AM

My two horses needed new winter coats, so when I checked prices, and being a seamstress, I decided that I could make custom blankets myself. I gathered my materials and carefully fitted the mare, Candy, then made her a beautiful warm waterproofed blanket. Emboldened by my success, I approached the stallion Caesar, who apparently had definite ideas about proper winter attire. I threw my unfitted blanket over his back; Caesar picked it off with his teeth. I replaced the blanket; he pulled it off and with a flourish tossed it high into the air. Berating him, I again placed the blanket on his back. Caesar neatly plucked off the blanket, walked over to the nearest puddle and dropped it into the mud, then tromped on it. Standing there on top of the blanket, he eyed me as if to say, "Now whatcha gonna do?"
Caesar 1; Me 0. I mean, how DO you argue with a hard-headed stallion?

Sue_31

7/24/2009 1:25:40 AM

My husband bought some chicks at the feed store to put under our setting hens, but apparently they were too old. One died and the hen rejected the other one, so a young couple that was working for us took the chick and named it Junior.
They kept it with them all the time while they were working, even up on the roof, and eventually Junior grew into a beautiful Rhode Island Red hen.
She thought she was a human since she was so imprinted to us, and would get in the house any chance she could, laying on our bed, sitting on our laps, or following us around where ever we went.
We had many young people living at our B&B Inn at the time, and they all played with Junior and had good times with her. My favorite was when they would tuck her under an arm and zoom down our long steep driveway on skate boards. She seemed to love it and would go right back up for more whenever anyone would give her a ride.
They were all surfers (we live in Kona, Hawaii) but we drew the line at taking her out on the ocean! She laid a lovely big brown egg every day and was very dear to all of us.
Tragically the neighbor's dogs killed her one day, and I was so glad I was not around. I still miss her all the time!

Kim_38

7/23/2009 5:26:31 PM

When we bought the property we currently own we inherited a cranky old goat by the name of Matilda. The poor old girl had been tethered most of her life and wasn't too fond of most people, most people, except for my husband. Matilda was overly fond of my husband. Over the begginning months of living in our new home my husband began the process of mellowing poor old Matilda out a bit. That process began with removing the tether. The next project we quickly realized we needed to begin was fence repair. Matilda was kind enough to let us know where each and every hole in that fence was. She was quite the handy helper. It could be a little nerve racking to try and return Matilda to the field when my husband wasn't home, as she probably weighed close to 160 lbs and had horns, and top that off with the fact that she didn't care much for me, it was a scary endeavor.
So the final straw in the fence repair came after we had been out to a BBQ at a friends. We came home on a late summer evening just as the sun was setting. Suddenly our oldest daughter casually calls out. Matilda's on the roof. She was so calm about this that we thought she was making up some kind of story. But no! We looked up to the very top of our two story salt box Victorian home to see one 160lb horned goat proudly standing at the very tip of the roof as the sun was setting behind her. My husband, with a few frightening moments on the roof was able to get her down and back in the field, thankfully, with neither of them getting hurt. This would not be the last time she ventured on the roof (fence repair takes time), and I can now tell you what it sounds like when Santa lands on your roof.

Lori_28

7/23/2009 12:52:53 PM

(continued from previous post)
Day after day, I open the cage, let her follow me around the house as I go about my chores and put her back in at night after I had cleaned the cage and put fresh food and water in, thinking," cool she's housebroken, no deposits anywhere, this is easy!" My cats and dog, accept her, but they don't really know what to make of the situation. I finally get a home at a nice barn in NJ with plenty of space and chickens, "Wonderful!" I think as I drop her off. Then I start getting phone calls about a month later...it appears that the barn owner has been finding her roosters fighting with this hen, A LOT! Turns out, Ruby Tuesday was not really a Rooster and a Fighting Rooster at that! The barn owner never told me what ended up happening to Ruby, but I suspect that her new shares in a popular new restaurant,(Ruby Tuesday) were not a coincidence...so much for the city slicker's little hen!

Lori_28

7/23/2009 12:50:04 PM

I grew up in Staten Island, NY which had been mostly farmland and beach resorts up until the 1950's. We lived in one of the poorer areas in a house across the street from the projects. When I was 12 years old, my love for horses led me to volunteer at a stable not too far from my house by bike. It was my first time I ever had contact with chickens and ducks. I was told every morning to go get the eggs from the chicken coop after the hens had left, so I had no real interaction with the chickens. Fast forward 25 years later, I am 37, living in my first house, have my own horse in a beautiful barn in NJ, lots of knowledge about horses, dogs and cats over those 25 years. My friend, who owned a carpet warehouse on Staten Island calls me up on a Tuesday after a holiday and asks me to could I help her find a home for a chicken abandoned in a box outside the warehouse. I say no problem, after all, I have a horse at a barn in the country, and they would probably take the chicken. I pick up this young hen in the box, drive to NJ and am told that the barn does not take any chickens. What to do? I take the hen home, which by now has been given the name "Ruby Tuesday" from the Beatles song. I put this hen in a dog cage on my sun porch and make her comfortable with food, water, clean bedding, etc. I make hundreds of calls to friends and other barns I know, no one wants her. What does a city slicker like me do with a chicken when it's illegal to own one in NYC?
Day after day, I open the cage, let her follow me around the house as I go about my chores and put her back in at night after I had cleaned the cage and put fresh food and water in, thinking," cool she's housebroken, no deposits anywhere, this is easy!" My cats and dog, accept her, but they don't really know what to make of the situation. I finally get a home at a nice barn in NJ with plenty of space and chickens, "Wonderful!" I think as I drop her off. Then I start getting ph

ShawnDell

7/23/2009 10:22:52 AM

As a good farm girl I joined 4-H when I was a 4th Grader. In 6th Grade I took a class on Dairy Goats to earn points for our club. The top 3 winners won a dairy goat. To my parents horror I came in number 2! That is when my story begins! In class I learned that goats are social animals and you really shouldn't have only one so I begged and pleaded my parents to buy me another goat. They agreed and we bought a Toggenberg goat (named Aspen) to be friends with my Nubian (Black Beauty). We let them have the run of the farm, that is until my dad got tired of having to pay for body work on visitors cars (Aspen loved to climb on cars and "dance". I think she liked the sound of her hooves on the metal.) I have no idea how many cars it took before my dad decided to put up a fence. He gathered all the materials and he and I went to have a father-daughter bonding moment. He suggested we put up a 4 foot fence. Both goats jumped the fence within minutes. He built it up to 6 feet figuring that would keep them in, Aspen jumped the fence and assisted with putting away the tools. A bit peeved at this moment my father added 2 more feet to the fence absolutely positive an 8 foot fence would keep the goats in. Aspen beat him to the house, thoroughly enjoying this game. My father, however, did not see the humor and tore the fence down and put up a sign saying "Beware of goat".

Bob R

7/23/2009 8:07:51 AM

My father came to the aid of a woman, who's pet ferret had escaped outside an apartment complex in south Florida. To make things difficult, it was after dark. Dad eventually cornered an animal next to the building and, despite being bitten several times, carried it to the woman, who said, "That's not a ferret!" Needless to say, Dad put it down in a hurry. No one ever determined what the animal was, and Dad had to get rabies shots.

THOM FUHRIMAN

7/22/2009 9:56:40 PM

WHILE ON A TRIP TO VISIT MY WIFE'S FAMILY IN THE PANHANDLE AREA OF TEXAS WE WERE SITTING ON THE PORCH VISITING WHEN THE BREEZE SWITCHED DIRECTIONS. WE ALL SOON DISCOVERED THERE WAS A CATTLE FEED LOT NEAR. THE WOMEN QUICKLY ENTERED THE HOUSE. MY WIFE'S UNCLE JUST KEPT ROCKING ON HIS CHAIR AND BEFGAN TO EXHIBIT A WIDE GRIN. VERY SLOWLY AND STILL GRINNING HE SAID "SMELL THAT MONEY?" UPON QUESTING HIM, I FOUND OUT HE OWNED A PORTION OF THE FEED LOT. SO WHEN EVER AN OFFENSIVE SMELL QUAFFS MY WAY HIS COMMENT ALWAYS ENTERS MY HEAD.

Dale _1

7/22/2009 9:44:22 PM

WHEN I WAS 16 I OWNED A DOG NAMED KIP. KIP WAS HALF COLLIE AND HALF GERMAN SHEPHARD. HE AND I WERE BEST FRIENDS. MY FAMILY RAN A SAWMILL WHICH WAS LOCATED ABOUT 75 YARDS FROM MY HOUSE. MOST OF THE TIME MY FATHER HAD OTHER THINGS TO DO, AND LEFT ME RUNNING THE MILL. ONE DAY DURING QUAIL SEASON (WE LIVED IN THE COUNTRY)MY DAD HAD A FRIEND COME TO OUR HOUSE TO HUNT A LITTLE WITH MY DAD AND HIS TWO BIRD DOGS. THEY LOCKED KIP UP IN A SMALL SMOKE HOUSE WHILE THEY WALKED ACROSS THE ROAD AND INTO THE ADJOINING FIELD THROUGH WHICH A SMALL CREEK RAN. QUAIL SEEMED TO ALWAYS FORAGE THERE. AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, THEY AND THE TWO BIRD DOGS CAME BACK WITH NO QUAIL AND THE ENTIRE PARTY WAS EXAUSTED. WHEN DAD WALKED INTO THE YARD HE LET MY DOG OUT OF THE SMOKE HOUSE AND I WATCHED AS KIP WENT ACROSS THE ROAD IN THE DIRECTION THE HUNTING PARTY HAD COME FROM AFTER THEIR EFFORTS WERE IN VAIN. ABOUT 15 MINUTES AFTER HE HAD CROSSED THE ROAD, HE RETURNED FROM THE HUNTING AREA WITH A QUAIL IN HIS MOUTH. HE PROMPTLY WALKED UP ONTO THE PORCH AND LAYED IT DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE DOOR. UPON INSPECTION I FOUND THAT THE QUAIL WAS STILL WARM. KIP JUST WANTED TO SHOW MY DAD THAT HE WAS WORTH MORE THAN THE TWO BIRD DOGS. THIS IS A TRUE STORY. WHO SAID DOGS CAN'T THINK!

Valerie_19

7/22/2009 6:52:25 PM

We had a flock of ducks which we sold when the economy took a downturn. Somehow one was left behind and with no way of contacting the buyers since we did not know them we had to keep her. I know ducks are flock animals and didn't want her to be alone. So my 1st thought was to put her in with the goats. They seemed to ignore each other after a few days. I had a flock of young chickens ready to go outside at that time. I thought maybe she would feel better with another bird to care for so I took a young rooster and put him out there to keep her company. She did not liek him but he and one of the young nannies really took to each other. They were never apart. If he wandered through the fence she would "holler" at him and he would run right back. He would only eat the feed she would eat. When she was on the milking stand looking out the window right there he could be seen up on the back of her head. It was quite the site. However, apparently, I was misreading them because one day she ended up head butting him and killed him.
Valerie

David Plank

7/22/2009 3:38:39 PM

Unless black bears have since been turned into domestic animals, my story isn't about farm animals. Having recently relocated back home from Texas to Pennsylvania, this time in the Pocono Mountains, a friend called to me from his truck to come out from the storage garage where I was picking up tools. Since I found the tools I needed, I closed the self-locking door behind me only to come face-to-face with a 350-400 pound black bear about 25 feet away.
He simply "chuffed" at me for a few seconds and walked away behind the garage up into the woods.
I thought that was just "too cool" so I walked quietly to the far side of the garage to get a better look at the bear walking away. I realized as I carefully leaned around the corner to take a peek that the bear had exactly the same idea at the same time as he leaned around the same corner from the opposite side and we were now only petting (or eating) distance apart and staring at each other. Again, he simply chuffed, almost barked, at me for about 30 seconds (since I could not move) and we went our separate ways, his legs being significantly more steady than mine.

Judy K.

7/22/2009 1:46:27 PM

I rehab wildlife and at one time I had a red squirrel that I was caring for. My daughter was helping me clean the cage. I put the squirrel back in the cage (it was the fish tank kind with the screen lid)and was about to put the lid on when all of a sudden the squirrel jumped out, on my daughters chest. You never heard such screaming, "get off of me you little freak" shes yelling. I laughed so hard that the tears started flowing. I got the squirrel off of her and put it in the cage, to this day she still doesn't like squirrels.

Cathy F

7/22/2009 1:19:01 PM

Years ago my husband and I had a small flock of sheep. As sometimes happens, we ended up with a bottle lamb in early spring. It was a very small lamb, so we brought it to the house for extra care. I would sit in a larger chair and wrap him in an old blanket, and feed him, talking to him all the while.. We would take him outside for exercise as it grew stronger. He would follow the dogs around the yard and buck and run. One night when we let the dogs in for the evening, here he came and made a flying leap for the chair I fed him in where he sat expectantly..just like a dog: on his haunches!!!

Carol Sadler

7/22/2009 1:07:42 PM

Of all the silly stories about our animals, my favorite is about our dogs, Puddles and Ray. Puddles was a dainty little Luellen Setter that my husband had had for several years. Ray was a Labrador- he grew up to be one of the largest Labs I've ever seen! When he was a Pup we lived a couple of blocks from the Missouri River and he loved to chase sticks in the river, swimming up the main current to return with his stick!
Anyway, Puddles and Ray were great friends, running and chasing each other thru the yard, Ray usually the chaser. One afternoon he was the chasee, which he was really enjoying! He looked back over his shoulder, to be sure she was still coming. When he looked back around,there was a 500 gal Propane tank right in front of him! He ran square into the end of the propane tank, moving it several inches on it's cinder block footing and ringing it like a bell! Ray slowly stood up, shaking his head as if to say "who put that there?" We can still laugh until we cry thinking of these very special friends

LindaC

7/22/2009 12:55:18 PM

When my grandparents started out life together on a hill farm in eastern Kentucky, they divvied up the jobs (as folks did then) traditionally. That put my short, plumb grandmother in charge of milking the cow, Susan, among a couple hundred other jobs. Grandmother and Susan formed a bond over the milk bucket. Eventually, the newlywed missed her family and decided to go home for a visit. My grandfather, 6-feet 2 and rail thin, handed her into the buggy and waved goodbye. When milking time came, he went out to the barn, settled in and reached for a teat. Susan rolled her eye toward this stranger with big hands and kicked the bucket away. He tried again and again with increasingly testy results. Like farmers everywhere, my grandfather was used to coming up with unique solutions to problems. With an "I'll be back" nod to Susan, he went into the house and came out a few minutes later wearing one of my grandmother's dresses. Well all right, Susan apparently decided. That's more like it. Milking proceeded without further trouble.

Judy Woods

7/22/2009 9:31:05 AM

My husband has always been used to me bringing home all kinds of animals but one night while at the horse sale he bought a small donkey. My husband said the donkey looked like he had been abused; had marks on his rear and face where he had been hit. We found out that the donkey had been run through the sale for several weeks with no one willing to bid on him. Well he went home with us that night. My father in law happened to be with us that night and when we got home to unload this donkey, he assisted with this "adventure". It had been raining so everything was a little slippery and as the donkey came out of the trailer my father in law was to hold the rope, to guide him to the pasture. The donkey had other ideas. He took off running, causing my father in law to fall, getting quite muddy before letting go of the rope. When my father in law looked up, the donkey was standing a short distance away from him, he had picked the rope up in his mouth and was looking back at my father in law as if to say, "That was fun, want to do it again?" We all still laugh when we tell this story.

Jason Lacoss-Arnold_2

7/21/2009 8:56:46 PM

I grew up on a farm in central Nebraska. One year we raised a pen of 20 some odd hogs - the same year that my dad was breaking a colt out of mare that had been born to my dad's family when he was a boy. It worked out that the best place to work with the colt on halter breaking happened to be in the hog lot. Eventually, one of the hogs developed the habit of grabbing the halter rope and taking "control" of the colt. I think dad's even still got a picture of it.

Brenda_41

7/21/2009 8:19:09 AM

I have too many to tell but the one that really makes me giggle has to do with an escaping goat.
When the kids were little we got a nanny goat. I already had a horse, a Clydesdale/Hackney/Arab cross who had an extra large stall in the barn so I decided that a goat would make a great companion for her. The stall was all open at the top (no bars) so I put a sturdy table in the back corner of the stall for the goat to climb up on away from the horse.
This worked well for a while then I'd come out in the morning to find the goat in the barn aisle with (of course) goat droppings everywhere including my husbands workbench.
We simply could not figure out how this goat was getting
out, it was too small to jump out and the table was way too far away from the aisle to use it to get out. It was exasperating as the goat was just making a mess of the barn!
One early morning, my father was over for a coffee and we wandered out to visit the animals...the horse AND the goat were in the stall, the goat was on top of the table. As my dad and I chatted movement in the stall made us turn and watch....as the goat hopped up on top of my horses back who calmly walked over to the doorway of the stall and the goat then hopped off into the aisle.
My dad and I were both standing there with open mouths....LOL I turned to my dad and said 'ok, dad, you are my witness cause if I tell anyone this, they are simply NOT going to believe me! lol'...
Clever critters~

Charlene_8

7/20/2009 1:28:29 PM

We live in a relatively rural area close to a ctiy and park. Because of this we often find animals abandoned in our area or park. Late one evening while driving home from a friends we spied a cluster of bunnies along the side of the road. They were clearly pet bunnies that had been abandoned. Into my husband's brand new car we put whatever we could catch. We brought them home and were astounded to find we'd caught 1 adult male, 2 teens, and 6 baby bunnies (who, BTW, had taken care of that pesky new car scent!). We had a large dog cage for the babies, put the teens in their own large carriers and let the big daddy out in the room for the night since we didn't have better accomodations. One little bunny caught my eye. He was the smallest, but the spunkiest and I named him Elvis. The first thing the next morning we checked on the bunnies and lo and behold, there were only 5 babies in the cage. Elvis was with his big daddy, he has squeezed out of the cage overnight. Elvis had left the cage!

SR Davis

7/19/2009 8:31:59 PM

Many years ago I got two small hogs for my then 5 year old son to raise. My husband and I built what we thought was a strong great pen. The day we picked up the baby piglets we carried them home and got them settled in their pen. It started raining and my son wanted to go out and make sure his new friends were safe. He came running back in the house announcing that someone had stolen Wilbert and Wilberta (the names he had chosen for them). My husband and I ran out into the rain to discover our great pen had a small area that the pigs had escaped from. Him and I started searching up and down the road until we spotted them. We tried to catch them, not realizing that catching pigs ona bright sunny day was hard to say the least, and with it pouring and them covered in mud was impossible. We chased them onto a neighbors property when they decided to hide under the neighbor's house. My husband got on one side of the house,along with me, the neighbor and his wife each covering the other sides. We eventually caught them after 45 minutes and me covered head to toe in mud after slipping in the mud and doing a complete split at the age of 28 I might add. I had mud in places that mud was never meant to be. For days after that I was still cleaning mud out of my ears, nose, and various crevices. Needless to say, we secured the pen and made it much stronger and Wilbert and Wilberta became part of the family until we got 250# of meat off of Wilbert and 215# of meat off of Wilberta in the form of steaks, ribs, chops, sausage and bacon - enough for us, the neighbors and our parents.

Pat Miketinac

7/17/2009 9:36:03 PM

When we had free-range chickens, the chicks would have their usual brood fights to determine pecking order, and all would be OK until it rained. Then, they wouldn't recognize each other, and the fighting would start all over again.

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